Fear will always offer you a reasonable-sounding excuse. Notice how reasonable it sounds.

Fear rarely arrives announcing itself. It comes dressed as good judgement: bad timing, not quite ready, better to wait until after exams, probably would not have worked anyway. The giveaway is the quality of the argument, since a mind that has decided not to do something becomes unusually articulate about why.

When you catch yourself making a strong case for staying put, write the case down and look at it cold. Ask yourself what you would pick if that nervousness were not in the room. If the reasons still hold up a day later, fine, and if they evaporate, you know what they were.